You are here

Lahontan cutthroats coming to Conway

Rumors that the endangered Lahontan cutthroat trout will not be stocked on the Mono County-owned Conway Ranch are just that, rumors, according to county economic development director Dan Lyster.

Lyster said plans to stock the ranch with 10,000 trout are still in place, even after rumors circulated throughout the fishing community that the ranch had been left off the list of state-approved stocking designations.

The rumors came from a Fish and Wildlife Service permit that mistakenly did not specifically state Conway as a destination for the fish.

That permit has since been amended and the trout are expected to be on the ranch “by the end of the month,” he said.

The Conway Ranch has been increasing its fish-rearing capacity for the past few years, with the long-term goal of becoming one of the state’s “go to” hatcheries. Over time, the county, along with a private non-profit called Inland Aquaculture Group headed by Tim Alpers, hopes that the Conway Ranch operation will to be able to provide all of the fish the county needs to support a tourism-driven economy, as well as more to sell outside of the county. The Lahontan cutthroat trout are endangered native California trout that land managers are mandate to restore to some of the trout’s historic waters, including some in Mono County.